Moser Baer, India’s leading and the world’s second-largest manufacturer of Optical Storage Media, finds itself at the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by Japan’s Toshiba Corp. relating to alleged patent infringement of recordable DVDs. Reuters reports here that the lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin against Moser Baer and seven other recordable DVD manufacturers and distributors across the world (Imation and RITEK are among others) that do not have licensing agreements with Toshiba to sell the products in the US.“The infringement of Toshiba’s patents by these companies, has negatively affected Toshiba’s business, and also caused damage to the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and distribution business as a whole,” reports this article . Toshiba has sought damages for past infringement and has asked for a ban on the sale, manufacture and import into the US of recordable DVD media by the companies named, but appears open to alternate resolutions, including post hoc license agreements.
Moser Baer has refused to comment on the issue at the moment, since information on this story is only just trickling in. However, commentators are already speculating on the unusual timing of this suit (why sue now, most would ask, if the complaint were valid all this while). It may not be coincidence, though, that the suit was filed simultaneous with a sale announcement of over $3 billion worth stock, subsequent to posting record losses last year.
